Sandy Springs Festival

Sandy Springs Festival

Sandy Springs Festival

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Sandy Springs Festival
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
Welcome to the Sandy Springs Festival
Sandy Springs Festival
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Dear Friends, music series, Concerts by the Springs, and hosting workshops on history, gardening and other special interests, museum educational programming for children and adults and much more. Heritage also continues to maintain the four-acre park site around the original springs, now known as Heritage Green, offering an oasis of greenspace in an otherwise modern urban setting. Through its many free and affordable community programs, Heritage Sandy Springs and Heritage Green serve as a thriving community gathering place. This year’s Sandy Springs Festival guide shares an overview of the many activities that encompass the festival weekend. Many of these events are annual favorites, but we are delighted to announce new features to this year’s festival, including the Moondog Growlers Biergarten located on the Sandy Springs Society Entertainment Lawn and an expanded Teen Territory presented by Snyder’s-Lance with more thrilling rides for adventurous youngsters. The heart of Sandy Springs will again be transformed into an outdoor art gallery as fine artists and crafters display their work in the Artists Market. In addition to hosting 120 acclaimed artists, the weekend will offer great live music and entertainment, heritage education and delicious festival fare. Sports enthusiasts can compete to qualify for the Peachtree Road Race in the fast-paced Sandy Springs Lightning 10K and 5K on Saturday morning, the official kickoff to the festival. Children will delight in the Gas South Children’s Park with hands-on activities, face painting and pony rides. Pet lovers will be excited to see the 26th annual Kiwanis Pet Parade led by Parade Marshall Jan Collins knowing that the Sandy Springs Festival is completely pet-friendly! Every year the success of the festival relies on the many selfless and enthusiastic volunteers who make the event possible. These individuals, responsible for the seemingly effortless way the festival comes together, are rarely seen or acknowledged by the public.
Welcome to the Sandy Springs Festival! A time-honored tradition in the heart of Sandy Springs, its deep-rooted traditions have created lasting memories for generations of Sandy Springs residents and visitors and celebrated the community for the last 28 years. Every fall, thousands of Sandy Springs neighbors gather at Heritage Green for the community’s largest and most popular event. What began as a small picnic celebration in 1986 has grown into an adored communitywide tradition and the largest fundraiser for Heritage Sandy Springs, the nonprofit that saved the original “sandy springs,” relocated the Williams-Payne House and established the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum. The festival’s humble beginnings laid the foundation for Heritage Sandy Springs as we know it today. Resources generated through the weekend event support a year-round calendar of meaningful educational programs and cultural activities for the public, including operating the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum, presenting the long-running summer
When one year’s event is packed away, they immediately begin planning for the next year, working hard to make the experience of every visitor as memorable and pleasant as possible. The continued growth and success of the Sandy Springs Festival is due to these many dedicated volunteers. We again focused our attention on creating a weekend celebration that honors the community that makes Sandy Springs such a special place to live and work. The festival committee, Heritage Sandy Springs board of trustees and staff and hundreds of weekend volunteers have spent vast numbers of hours toward this 28th annual festival to present the best weekend possible to the community we each love. As festival director, it is my pleasure to invite you to join Heritage Sandy Springs, your friends, neighbors and community for the 28th annual Sandy Springs Festival, in the heart of Sandy Springs. We look forward to welcoming you!
Rebekah Henry Murphy Festival Director
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Festival prides itself in collaborative approach
Sandy Springs Festival
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
From Staff Reports Fall festivals are everywhere these days; one can find them at almost every crossroads each weekend of the season. With so many choices and so many events, what brings more than 25,000 people to the Sandy Springs Festival on a busy September weekend? Festival organizers say the event’s popularity can be credited to the collaborative approach taken in planning for it. “The festival is a collaborative effort spearheaded by community volunteers and produced as a fundraiser for Heritage Sandy Springs, the oldest nonprofit in the city,” said Carol Thompson, executive director of Heritage Sandy Springs. “The Sandy Springs Festival is a community event designed to bring people together to create and strengthen a sense of place in the physical and literal heart of our city.” Heritage Sandy Springs developed the festival 28 years ago to celebrate the volunteer spirit that saved the original spring site, a centuriesold gathering place in a shady meadow off busy Roswell Road. A group of dedicated citizens chose to think
differently about the best use of this land, pulling together a grassroots effort to save the springs and create an urban greenspace rather than commercial development in what is now considered the city center. The Sandy Springs Festival continues to celebrate and connect all facets of the Sandy Springs community — businesses, civic groups, schools, artists, elected officials, visitors and neighbors — challenging them to find
common ground and appreciate our differences. More than just an entertaining weekend, the festival offers opportunities for local residents and visitors to experience who we are becoming, as well as who we have been, as a city and a community. Renderings from the city of Sandy Springs show that Heritage Sandy Springs is right in the middle of plans for the city center redevelopment. The Heritage site continues to be the heart
of Sandy Springs, where people gather for arts, entertainment and heritage education. “It is a vital long-term goal of Heritage Sandy Springs to continue to serve as the heart of the city,” Thompson said. “We are glad for our strong partnership with the city and look forward to being an integral part of the exciting changes planned for this area. Our hope is that the Sandy Springs Festival will continue to showcase our community, attracting residents and visitors who will return again and again to the city center for shopping, dining, entertainment and living options.” Thompson also believes the festival is the cornerstone for all programming at Heritage Sandy Springs. “From its beginning as a picnic celebration of community, the festival gave rise to a beautiful four-acre park, the Heritage Museum, a research library and a year-round calendar of cultural offerings for citizens in Fulton County,” she said. “Through resources produced by the festival and the many attendees that are introduced to Heritage Sandy Springs with this annual event, the park has grown to a well-loved community asset at the core of our city.”
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
Sandy Springs Festival
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Special Photo
Above, attendees check out the Business and Civic Expo at last year’s Sandy Springs Festival. Below, a girl has her face painted at the Children’s Park.
A child enjoys a pony ride at the Children’s Park.
Special Photo
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Sandy Springs Festival
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
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Special Photo
Above, visitors view the ‘Wit in Wood’ exhibit at the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum, which will be open during the Sandy Springs Festival. Below, a dog is decked out for the festival’s annual Pet Parade.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
Sandy Springs Festival
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Special Photo
Children pet one of the dogs participating in the Sandy Springs Festival’s annual Pet Parade.
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From Staff Reports
Diverse acts of seasoned, up-and-comers to take stage
Sandy Springs Festival
Gwen Hughes, center, and The Retro Jazz Kats, including, from left, bass player L.A. Tuten and drummer Mike Hinton, will perform at the festival.
Staff / Samantha M. Shal
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The Sandy Springs Festival prides itself on presenting a diverse schedule of cultural performances and live music by Sandy Springs schools, arts organizations and area entertainers. The 2013 schedule continues to offer a sampling of entertainment sure to please any audience. This year two emerging acts with two very different styles will perform — Riley Biederer, a pop sensation recently signed by Elton John’s management company Rocket Music — and City Mouse, an Americana-folk duo who formed in 2012 and have already become regulars on the Atlanta folk music scene. The first thing one notices about Atlanta-raised singer/songwriter Riley Biederer is how self-assured she is at 16, with a vocal virtuosity to match her confidence. Although she is not the first teenager to pen a song, it is her compositions that hooked Elton John’s management company. “I try to write about what’s real,”
Biederer said. “I write about love, because everybody knows what that’s like, good or bad.” She does not apologize for her youthful lyrical frameof-reference, saying as a teenager, “You’re learning what heartbreak is.” Biederer continues to write and record in Atlanta, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles for her forthcoming debut album. She will perform on the Festival Entertainment Stage Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m.
City Mouse was formed in 2012 by Atlanta-based songwriters and folk musicians Brian Revels and Michael Hudgins, but they quickly have amassed a steady tour schedule, performing at Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs, The Swallow at the Hollow in Roswell, Eddie’s Attic in Decatur and various bluegrass and arts festivals. Generally accompanied by a banjo, guitar and a few overzealous,
tempo-tempting foot stomps by Revels, City Mouse lyrics imply meaning and conviction. They are keen storytellers who take the audience right along with them in the stories they are trying to convey. City Mouse will perform on the Festival Entertainment Stage Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. The festival Sunday will conclude with a diverse set by Gwen Hughes and The Retro Jazz Kats. Led by frontwoman and Sandy Springs resident Hughes on vocals, the Jazz Kats include three horns and a rhythm section. They certainly deliver the jazz standards and big band music expected from their pedigree, but the audience should expect a diverse mix of American standards, Top 40 hits, and beloved classics by the band. “We certainly perform the classics audiences expect to hear, but we may mix in CeeLo Green or the Rolling Stones and we take audience requests all the time,” said Hughes. Originally scheduled to appear at Heritage Sandy Springs’Concerts by the Springs outdoor summer series,
Riley Biederer the band was rained out twice this summer. “We are so excited to perform for the Sandy Springs Festival”, Hughes said. “After a couple of nearmisses this summer, the band is ready to entertain attendees and close out the festival with a great performance.” Gwen Hughes and The Retro Jazz Kats will perform Sunday from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
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Sandy Springs Festival
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Special Photo
A girl enjoys a ride in the Teen Territory at last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sandy Springs Festival.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
Sandy Springs Festival
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Special Photo
An artist draws a portrait of a Sandy Springs Festival attendee at last year’s event.
THIS WEEKEND
Sept. 20, 21, 22
Good all weekend. Children free.
Friday 9-5 • Saturday 9-6 • Sunday 10-5
Admission $3.00
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Museum to feature Heritage demonstrators during weekend
Sandy Springs Festival
stove. Also during festival weekend, the exhibition “Wit in Wood: The Folk Art of Moses Robinson” will be on view in the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum. “Wit in Wood” highlights a collection of folk art created by former Sandy Springs resident Moses Young Robinson (1845-1942). An illness at the age of 60 prevented Robinson from continuing to work. Determined not to become useless or idle, he began the hobby of whittling. Without training or lessons of any kind, he carved found materials into the figures and animals he saw in the world around him. Peach pits and hickory nuts became turtles, baskets and birds. Discarded wood became armies of soldiers and villages of Native Americans. Robinson used his carvings to share the story of his long life and rural surroundings, reflecting the people he remembered from growing up during the Civil War and a
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
From Staff Reports It’s definitely not cooking on the range at home, but it is food from home-on-the–range! During this year’s festival, the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum will showcase Todd Stansell and the cowboys from the Double X Ranch of Hampton. These cowboy demonstrators will bring back the days of cattle drives in Sandy Springs by showcasing the food and cooking techniques of America’s pioneers. “For decades, cattle was rounded up in northern Georgia and driven down the old Roswell Road to the slaughter houses near Howell Mill Road,” Kimberly Brigance, director of historic resources for Heritage Sandy Springs, said. “The roundup took several days and legend has it that the cowboys and their herds would stop near the springs to camp before making the full day trip into Atlanta.”
Special Photo
The cowboys of the Double X Ranch of Hampton will be on hand at the Sandy Springs Festival this weekend.
On cattle drives, a chuck wagon would follow behind the cowboys and cattle, providing a hearty meal to the working men. The cooking techniques demonstrated during the festival will mirror the way food was cooked before the invention of the
post-Reconstruction South. Although he began carving late in life, this self-taught artist made thousands of pieces before his death in 1942. This previously unknown folk art collection was gathered from several groups of Robinson’s descendants throughout the United States. Generously, these members of the Robinson family donated the woodcarvings to the museum with the understanding the items be cared for and displayed. Due to the exhibit’s popularity, the museum extended the exhibition run to keep it open for festival attendees. The preservation and acquisition of the Moses Robinson folk art collection is the first major curatorial initiative of the museum following its repurposing into an exhibition museum in 2010. After viewing the exhibit, visitors can visit with woodcarvers demonstrating their craft on the front porch of the museum.
Special Photo
Visitors to the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum check out the ‘Wit in Wood’ exhibit, which will be open during the festival.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
Art Sandy Springs builds on success of 2012 Chalk Walk
Sandy Springs Festival
porting the arts in the city. The nonprofit works to identify, unite and motivate the volunteer community to elevate the arts in Sandy Springs, thereby enriching the quality of life for all the city’s residents and visitors. The ArtSS Chalk Walk was unveiled at the 2012 Sandy Springs Festival and was extremely well received. “ArtSS is excited to bring the Chalk Walk as part of the Sandy Springs Festival for a second year,” ArtSS Executive Director Deidre Brock said. “It is a great community event that brings together artists of all ages to exhibit their ideas and talents. We hope to grow the Chalk Walk into an even larger event in future years.” DeAnn Campbell, a member of ArtSS and the Chalk Walk Committee, said, “Festival-goers will happily ‘Walk the Chalk’ during the event, getting a chance to meet the artists and marvel at the masterpieces of performance art, where the process of creating is more important than the finished piece.” Registration is encouraged from schools, churches, businesses and artist groups in the community. Participation in the competition is free and open to ages 11 and up, as individuals or as teams. More information and online registration is available at www.artsandysprings.org.
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From Staff Reports Art Sandy Springs will again present the annual ArtSS Chalk Walk at the Sandy Springs Festival Saturday. The Chalk Walk is a competition of chalk drawings to be created by area artists on the Bluestone Road sidewalks between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. Each artist, or team, will be assigned a four-foot by four-foot square on the sidewalk and provided with free chalk for their creative and artistic technique. In the tradition of Italian street painting, competing artists may exchange chalk colors with other street painters if desired. Other additional useful tools will be suggested and rules will be explained when registering. There is no select theme for the drawings, and participants are encouraged to use their imagination. Artists will be entered in three categories: middle school, high school and adults. Professional design industry experts will serve as judges, presenting cash prizes in each category. First place will receive $500, second $250 and third and honorable mention gift cards. This year, festival attendees may participate in the judging process and cast their vote for the Crowd Favorite, a $250 cash prize. Art Sandy Springs is a volunteer organization dedicated to sup-
Left and below left, artists work on their drawings during the 2012 Chalk Walk.
Special Photos
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Artists Market to feature diverse mix of fine art, craft
Sandy Springs Festival
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
From Staff Reports The Artists Market at the Sandy Springs Festival is one of the most traversed areas of the event, where attendees enjoy strolling through row upon row of artists’ booths, perusing the original work in a variety of art mediums, including painting, pottery, jewelry, photography and sculpture. Featuring 120 artists selected through a competitive jury process, the annual market is known for its high quality of artwork and attracts artists from throughout the region and beyond. “For the last few years it’s been a privilege to cultivate the type of artist participant the Sandy Springs Festival deserves,” said Patrick Dennis, president of the Midtown-based Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces, which organizes the Artists Market. “Giving this show national exposure really upped the quality and competition while maintaining a wide variety of art and craft that will appeal to return visitors and new folks who come out for the weekend.” The competition among artists gets stronger every year, with many award-winning artists choosing to participate due to the caliber of participants. Photographer Lisa Windle said, “Some of my favorite local painters will be at this show including Frederic Payet, Sergey Cherep and Wade Lincoln. But I also can’t wait to see James Floyd from Florida, who makes musical instruments from parts one would never imagine using!” The Artists Market is open during the duration of the festival hours, Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Far left, Mariella Owens’ large wheel thrown pitcher. Left, Jake Asuit’s ‘Hippo’ sculpture. Right, Wade Lincoln’s ‘The Old Timers’ painting.
Special Photos
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
From Staff Reports
Sandy Springs Lightning 10K/5K a favorite among runners
Sandy Springs Festival
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The Sandy Springs Lightning 10K/5K has been one of the fastest 10K race routes in the state of Georgia for the last 23 years and a favorite with metro Atlanta runners who enjoy its flat course through the Sandy Springs community and neighborhoods. This year’s race, set for Saturday, will be welcoming its youngest participants with the introduction of a stroller division. Runners are welcome to race with their children during this year’s 5K and 10K in the stroller division. Recognizing the athleticism required for running with a stroller, awards will be distributed for the top three male and female finishers with strollers. Stroller runners will have a delayed start time to ensure safety from the crowd at the start line of both races. “With an extremely successful 2012 race, the race committee is thrilled to see the energy and excitement continue to grow with this community tradition,” Race Director Cody Elder said. “This year we are especially excited to add the stroller division to include those with little passengers, starting the next generation of runners and athletes.”
Special Photo
Runners race during the 2010 Sandy Springs Lightning 10K.
The longest-standing race in Sandy Springs began in fall 1990, spearheaded by the energy of longtime Sandy Springs Festival volunteer Doug Kessler. Known as the “festival fun run,” the race ultimately became the Lightning 10K because Kessler encouraged participants to “run like lightning” while they were racing. Kessler was committed to improving and growing the race each year, until his death in 2005. Kessler’s wife, Margie, continues to play an instrumental role in planning the event that Doug held so close to his heart, saying, “It is a great event for our city and continues to serve as a wonderful tribute to Doug’s memory.” The race serves as the official kickoff to the festival, with a 7:30 a.m. start time for the 10K race and 7:50 start time for the 5K run. Both the 5K and 10K courses are USA Track & Field certified and the races feature chip
timing to electronically record the runners’ times. The race is a Peachtree Road Race qualifier. “With its flat course, the Lightning 10K offers an exceptional [personal-best] opportunity for runners,” Elder said. “This is why so many hopeful Peachtree Road Race participants like to use the race as a Peachtree qualifier.” Runners may register on race day beginning at 6:30 a.m. at the Sandy Springs United Methodist Church Activities Center parking lot, 85 Mount Vernon Hwy. Day-of registration is $35 for the 5K and $40 for the 10K. Racers receive a complimentary high performance technical T-shirt, free festival entry with their race shirt and giveaways from race sponsors. The 2013 Sandy Springs Lightning 10K/5K is sponsored by Moncrief Heating and Air Conditioning, the Sandy Springs Society, Affinity Bank, Resurgens Orthopaedics, Fleet Feet Sports, Whole Foods Market Sandy Springs, Waffle House, Oberto, the Neighbor Newspapers, Clif Bar, Food Should Taste Good, Michelob Ultra, Endurance Concepts and Cadence Bikes & Multisport.